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Bloodlines Vampire System (financial data)
SLGI team strongly appreciate the fact that Liquid Designs, the creator of Bloodlines Vampire System, shows so much transparency and publishes all information about their ratings, products and players on their site. This made our research far more easy. This article is a copied from a document named The Truth About Bloodlines. The document is released into public domain and the author allows it to be copied and used in any way and by anyone. All data is based on a research conducted on Bloodlines' database. Small changes have been made, to update the document with new data (by the same person who created the document) and to adapt it for Wikia format. *Link to the original document here *Link to Bloodlines database here Based on all this, anybody can calculate the amount of money earned by Liquid Designs. The same did Gridsurvey, calculating the estimated land tier earned monthly by Linden Lab. For more data, please look at Bloodlines Vampire System. Error boundaries All data shown below is based on the information available on Bloodlines database http://www.slbloodlines.com/. There are a few things that are unknown and might give us some errors: # The parity of the Linden Dollar changes. An average value is of 145 L$ = 1 US$. # The amount of players that closed their accounts at some time (by garlic necklace, by Bloodline account suspension or by LL account closing) is also unknown. They might have spent some money, but nobody knows how much. # In the first days, the HUD had a full-perm script and many residents could login very easy and make many alts. # There are items not seen here, like the insignia. They are anyway not so often seen on the grid. Without the warriors, we talk about 101 345 residents that joined Bloodlines. For these estimations, profit was monthly estimated, supposing that Liquid Designs is 5 years (60 months) old. Estimations for one player This is the amount of money that, based on survey data, Liquid Designs in earning from selling themed products: Bloodlines roleplay gear If you want to see how these data were gathered, please see: *Bloodlines Vampire System (basics) *Bloodlines Vampire System (Demographic research) Based on data shown on previous surveys, we know the prices and we approximate the amounts of items owned by players. Please note that we talk here only about money earned from Bloodlines game. The money earned: Item: Usage: Price L$: Total L$: Total per month: HUD 104.0% 599 622.96 10.383 L$ amulet: 5.4% 7999 431.95 7.199 blood vial: 2.0% 99 1.98 0.033 coffin: 0.2% 599 1.20 0.020 electrum: 5.6% 999 55.94 0.932 hemlock: 10% 249 24.90 0.415 lumen vial: 0.6% 249 1.49 0.025 nightsh: 3.8% 249 9.46 0.158 rampage: 0.6% 499 2.99 0.050 scanner: 0.6% 499 2.99 0.050 spike: 4.4% 499 21.96 0.366 soul reap: 3.6% 599 21.56 0.359 wormwd: 9.6% 249 23.90 0.398 TOTAL earning per month at 1 player: 20.388 L$. Fluids consumed per one player For more info about prices, go to: *Bloodlines Database *Bloodlines Wiki Fluids (blood, lumens, cider/apples) have various prices. Players with wealth of fluids and with many souls wear the amulet. Players exposed to the curse don’t have huge deposits. So, it is most probably that they depend on small canisters (bottles, apples, small barrels). Based on a previous research, we came to the conclusion that they spend a round price of 17 L$ per day to feed. Item: Usage: Price L$: Total per month: HUD 1.2% 517 6.20 L$ 6.20 + 20.388 = 26.588 L$ for each resident, spent monthly. Gods There are not many dieties. There can be at maximum 3 gods at a time. The others are demigods. You need 1000 liters of blood or 10 000 lumens to sacrifice on an altar in order to become a demigod. Most probably these fluids are purchased from shops (and we assume that at the smallest price). From refil stations, this price is: 100 liters (1000 lumens) = 4999 L$ (12.50 L$/day = 50 L$/liter). So, you pay 50 000 L$ to become a demigod. That is 204 US$. The player that sacrificed highest amount of fluids is a god. We seen an endless fight for god status. In the beginning, the amount of vital fluids that needed to be sacrificed was not so large. Currently, players have to sacrifice close to 10 000 liters. There are 28 dieties and the first 17 sacrificed below 1500 liters. So, we get a total of 42000 liters (= enough to make dieties 42 players, 42 x 204 = 8568 US $ in 5 years, this means 142.8 $ per month). Estimates for one warrior The same way we can calculate incoms for one average warrior. In this case, there are two kind of products needed: a HUD (mandatory), some weapons (psionic blast, gun, flame thrower) and some single-use items (mines and serums). The other weapons (claws, fangs) are from Bloodlines roleplay. Also, any player gets for free the fist attack, since any resident has hands by default. Basics: HUD (100%) - 599 L$ = 599 L$ per resident Weapons: Fist (100%) - free Flame thrower (7.5%) - 499 L$ Gun (24%) - 499 L$ Psionic blast (76.4%) - 499 L$ Sword (10.4%) - 499 L$ Fangs (79.2%) - free Claws (38.8%) - free Total paid weapons: 118.3% x 499 = 590 L$ per resident Mines: 449 mines for 250 residents => 1.796 mines per resident 1.796 x 69 L$ = 124 L$ Serums: 534 serums for 250 residents => 2.136 serums per resident 2.136 x 69 = 147 L$ Total estimated incomes from an average resident: 599 + 590 + 124 + 147 = 1851 L$. Based on this, the amount of money earned each month can be calculated at: 30.85 L$. 10.4 HAUNTS AND STRONGHOLDS *A haunt = 799 L$ *A haunt with bar shop = 999 L$ *A stronghold = 699 L$ From 100 haunts, 10 are bar shops and 90 are haunt signs. Based on price and age of Liquid Designs, we get: 130 bars > 2160 L$ per month 1170 haunts > 15 580 L$ per month About war stronghlds, we know that today there are 278, but based on war survey, we got that at 26 inactive bases, we get 22 active ones. So, at 278 strongholds, other 328 existed. 328 + 278 = 606. 606 strong holds > 7060 L$ per month. Total amount: 2100 + 15580 + 7060 = 24740 L$ = 100.98 $. So, Liquid Designs gets 100 $ every month from selling haunts, shops and bases. Total income We now know the amount of money earned for each domain. Bloodline players: 30 110 vampires + 4 280 lycans + 55 779 humans + 14 097 hybrids = 104 266 registered players. 1 player = 26.588 L$, so 104 266 players = 2 772 224 L$ = 11 315 $ Warriors: 19 199 warriors x 30.85 L$ = 592289 L$ = 2 417 $ Gods: As shown above, 142.8 $ per month Haunts & strongholds: As shown above, 100.98 $ per month Total: By adding values listed above, we get 13 975.78 $ each month. Income Correction However, there is an error. When the measurements were made, it was assumed that Liquid Designs was 5 years old. It was not true. The sign on their site was old, dates from April 20th 2013, so over an year ago. In fact, Liquid Designs was 6 years and 7 months old (a total of 79 months). In a theoretical situation, we assume that Liquid Designs had all these products for sale from the beginning and that sales were constant, with no fluctuations in any month. This allows to calculate the following monthly income: Total income = (13 975.78 x 60) / 79 = 10 750.6 L$. This is slightly smaller. Well, sales were not going always the same. For each item, they varied. Also, the date when each product was inserted is different. # Main Bloodlines roleplay is very old, the first thing they did. # Along registered players, is is shown that the amount of new joined is smaller today then it was in past. # The war is having less new players today then it had in past. # The dieties are relatively new. Anyway, the most important income comes from Bloodlines roleplay, while the second comes from war. In both, the highest amount of money comes from new players wearing a HUD and in both we see less players joining the game. This shrinkage is seen not only for Liquid Designs, but for many merchants and land barons. Gridsurvey shows that private estates have lost about 30% of land, while on mainland, inhabited land has been replaced 30% with abandoned land. As a conclusion, Second Life has lost 30% of size and as a result Linden Lab has lost 1/3 of its income. Many merchants can say the same about their incomes. So, it is loud and clear that also Liquid Designs is earning less money today then what it gain in its first years. The monthly income of 10750.6 $ might be in fact around 8 000. It is not possible to calculate this. Also, in past, sales might have been above 15 000 $. There are a few other items sold, that cannot be counted: crypt avatar items and crypt land items, both available from their shops, from marketplace and from affiliate vendors. They are listed on marketplace somewhere below other items, so we can speculate that they are less sold. Based on all what was argued here and assuming an error of 15%, it is more safe to consider the monthly income for Liquid Designs at the following value: 10 000 US $. 10 000 $ for all this? Well, this is how hard it is to get money from a virtual world. Liquid Designs not giving attention to its site? Everybody that looks at Bloodlines database will observe some strange things. First of all, they kept the sign for their 5 years anniversary over an year and half. Also, by visiting their inworld shops, you immediately see that some old items (mainly related to the war) are shown as new, even if they are over an year. Why should a company not be interested in managing its products, shop and site? Where on Earth do we see this? In two situations. First, we see similar things for companies with a very bad manager. Second case is of a company that has a fixed sum of clients. When the company sees that its clients are slowly moving away and to invest in order to get new ones will cost too much compared with results, that company will simply stop investing and will live on the clients that it still has. Possible corruption Do you fraternize with the spammers? Is Liquid Designs paying you? These are the quotes from an important leader of ABS team. He was accusing the Linden officials to cooperate with Liquid Designs. These words are what convinced User:Ana Imfinity to start her research and write The Truth About Bloodlines. But are them true? ABS team arguments The arguments used by ABS team are the following ones: # When a new resident joins Second Life, has to choose from some pre-defined accounts. 50% of them are vampires (30% from new mesh ones and 20% from classic ones). This is not fair, if we look at world population. # Linden officials no longer respond to Bloodlines harass (but in fact they no longer respond to almost all). The huge tolerance of spam generated by Bloodlines players, made many people suppose of corruption. # When someone fires an abuse report against a Bloodlines spam, the Lindens don’t do much. Usually Liquid Designs takes action and closes that spammer’s account inside Bloodlines. This suggests of an information connection. # ABS team leaders, at some point, without enough explanations, got their officers suspended accounts. An official action against the strongest resident-made organization against Bloodlines spam, this is something similar to things you see only in dictatorships and in most corrupted places on the world. # Bloodlines HUDs work also in places that don’t allow scripts to work. This might suggest that they are above the law. However, scripts CAN operate in no-script areas, in certain situations. # In case of a trial, Liquid Designs is under the jurisdiction of state of California, just like Linden Lab (as said on their site). Some suspected that they are friends (or even neighbors) also in real life. # ABS team wrongly estimated the amount of money earned by Liquid Designs is far greater, of 50 000 US$, while as was proven above, it is of only 10 000 US$ a month. # As shown on Bloodlines database, if you enter the world Linden, you will see that 4 Linden employees have joined Bloodlines. How small is Liquid Designs compared with Linden Lab? To answer at this, we should look at what Linden Lab feeds on. Land tiers: Private Estates c.US$3.857 Million, Mainland c.US$0.871 Million Total: 4 728 000 $! Source: Gridsurvey, data for mid 2014 At 4.7 million $, I don’t think Linden Lab cares about 10 000 $ from Liquid Designs. It is known that in the Opensim grids a full sim is available at a tier of 10 to 50 $ (average 25 $), while Linden Lab offers the same conditions with 190 $. So, virtual land can be far cheaper. Based on the difference from Linden Land and Opensim, results that land tier is bringing Linden Lab a lot of money. So, if there is corruption among the Lindens, it is there, in land tiers. When you have 4.7 millions of dollars flowing from land tier, you don’t give attention to 10 000 $ flowing into a merchant. At this huge income from land tier, there must be for sure temptation for corruption between employers. Also, among the land barons, there must be a temptation for corruption, to pay less (black money) for a tier reduction. I don’t say that such corruption between Linden Lab and land barons exists or not. My only goal is to prove if Liquid Designs is corrupted or not. How expensive is to maintain a vampire system? Anyway, Liquid Designs has a database, a server, at least one employer to manage the server and its functions and also needs to pay electricity, maintenance and other things for its server. So, you have to ask yourself: How much is actually the profit from a vampire system? On the other hand, Liquid Designs also owns some land and pays a tier for it. Maintenance Costs As anyone knows, keeping a server online is not cheap. It runs on electricity, it requires some maintenance (and you also have to buy the server itself). And also, there are other things you need to pay, like a domain. Employers Since Liquid Designs respects the law of California, we can speculate it is located in America. That is a bad situation, because there a salary is 2000 to 3000 US$. If it were in a more poor region, a salary could be of only 100 US$. Taxes There are taxes earned by Linden Lab (transforming L$ into US$) and taxes in the real world. It is hard to know the exact amount of taxes needed to be paid, but for sure they exist. Land tier Liquid Microcontinent and a few other Isolated Sim. Some of them are estates (land tier = 295 US$ for each). An estimation is that 2000 US$ are lost on land tier. So, how much money remains after this? I speculate it is enough for a med-class American family to live its daily life. Conclusion As a result, it is not plausible that Liquid Designs pays Linden Lab. There is not enough bounty to make the risk worth. Still, there are very strong signs of cooperation between them. And even more, Linden Lab seems to take care of Liquid Designs more even then Liquid Designs takes care about itself (remember that Liquid did not correct on its main site the fact with its 5 year aniversary, even if over an year has passed). Many people have seen a lack of perspective and a lack of strategy in actions token by Linden Lab. Where do we see this in the real world? Here are some examples: Neocommunism: One possible answer can come not from America, but from the highly corrupted places emerging from Communist world. There, you can see a governor selling a 1 million $ company for 200$ or selling 100 square km of forest for a free trip in Hawaii. I would be surprised to see corruption at this size inside Linden Lab, inside America, but might be possible. A second possible answer is a catastrophic lack of management. Could be possible and might explain why Linden Lab has done almost nothing since 2008, while other virtual worlds are growing. The way some continents are made and the way majority of problems are solved show a lack of perspectives and strategies. In many cases, things are resolved without thinking too much. This is the most possible case. A third possible answer is isolation with the world. It looks like the last Chinese dynasty, when the emperor was locked in the forbidden city and had no contact with real world. Again, this can explain some strange actions we have seen in the last years: blocking roads of Zindra for automated vehicles (even if Zindra communities asked many times to allow the Yava Script Pods to travel), blocking of the Second Life Wiki (even if some resident-made pages are visited over a million times) and not only. A 4th explanation is the lack of perspective. Sometimes a company realizes that to improve itself will not earn much money. Clients are addicted to its service and they will stay for a wile. In time, they will move away for sure, but until then, it is time. It is the case with Linden Lab who, since 2008, has done almost nothing except for reducing number of employers and increasing taxes. With other words, Linden Lab does not care what is going on. The answer could be none, one, more or all 4 of all explanations listed here or something completely different. Messages The following is quoted from The Truth About Bloodlines, at the end of this article. Message for Linden Lab: I am not your enemy. I helped many residents to stay here. I built House Of Freedom as a home for homeless avatars and the SL Geography Institute and made 450 Geographic articles that changed our world and helped many residents to find their way: Second Life Geography and Second Life Geography and I will keep on helping others, for free. Message for Liquid Designs: I am not your enemy. I registered my self into your game, together with an alt and with my husband’s account, to learn more about your games. As a prove that I am not your enemy, I will keep my registration active, even if it is strongly against my religion. I respect you, all registered players and all unregistered residents. My surveys found out that the vast majority of residents (including majority of active vampires) are against the spam made by some players. Message for all residents: I am your friend. All I did until now, House Of Freedom (home of homeless avatars), Second Life Geography Institute, Second Life Geography, SLGI Transportation Systems and others, I did to help you and I will do all I can to help you and our virtual world. I am opened to suggestions and answers and I will do my best to keep a neutral position into Bloodlines conflict. If you don’t agree with this article, prove the contrary. If somehow I will get my account suspended for this, I will consider it a sign of weakness from those involved into this. See Also *Second Life Geography *Vampire Systems *Opposition To Vampire Systems *Bloodlines Vampire System *ABS team